Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-04-26

GU nave unusually good 1acllltleS 1ol
manufacturing charcoal cheaply, and Of
superior quality. You are unfortunate
in having no supply of good iux i'm
mediately available, but this disadvantage
is less than it would be in furnace using
mineral fuel. You can produce iron witt
} an expenditure for labor no greater thar
the average at charcoal furnaces through
out the United States, and the cost
Of making pig iron at Rusk is
less than majority of the fur.
naces in the country. You are
st disadvantage in having but one
railroad, and that narrow gauge, but
this may be overcome largely by the cor
dial cooperation of the officers, which
they assured me you would receive
There seems to be variety OF industries
which can be made to pay, and utilize a
large portion of the pig iron produced in
the furnace, but it is probable that you
will have to, at least for the present, COM
time several of these to obtain satisfac-
tory results, and afterwards, if the indi-
cations point to certain of these being
most advantageous, the others can be
dropped. With the large area of your
state, its rapid growth, and increased de-
mand for all manufactures of iron which
accompany such development, there
would seem to be good opportunity for
the transformation of such of the pro-
duct of your furnace as you cannot sell,
into merchantable commodities"
After the consideration of Mr.. Birken-
bine's report, your board determined to
make immediate preparation for starting
the furnace, and authorized me to employ
Mr.. R. A. Barrett of st. Louis as furnace
superintendent. Mr.. Barrett had super
intended the construction of the furnace,
and had great confidence in making it
perform all that had originally been
promised. He came on at once, and set
about making the necessary preparation
for its operation. He put in new bosh,
changing the shape to the same as origi-
nally constructed. The furnace was
started for an experimental test on the
3Oth of November, 1885, and ran, with
splendid results, to the 10th of January,
1886, when the coal became exhausted,
and it was blown out. The output of
iron was seldom less than % tons per
day, and frequently over so tons per
day. From this blast the total yield was
1914 tons of excellent iron.
The furnace was again put in blast on
July last, and is now in blast, and the
yield to date from this second blast is
1909 tons. Total output Of the two blasts
Alb tons, which is worth at fair cash
valuation, SIC per ton, or $685. O8.
As to the quality of the iron, submit
the following extracts from letters re-
celved from iron men to whom samples
were sent. The Johnson Iron Works,
New Orleans, says: "The sample of pig
iron sent US has been used up in the man
ufacture of machine castings. The iron
is of excellent quality, and runs we'll in
the mould. We would have no hesitation
in using this grade of iron for iany class
of our work"
Mr.. j. L. Smyser, vice-president of
Littigow Manufacturing Company of
Louisville, KY, says: 90 thank you for the
samples of iron just received. 1 want to
say promptly that they have every out
ward evidence of being excellent; better
than any irons being sold in this market.
am positively astonished that Texas is
making any iron at all, to say nothing of
its quality. If there is plenty of this
iron, Texas would be good place for a
foundry"
Mr.. Paul A. Fusz, secretary of the
Chouteau, Harrison Vale Iron Com
pany, St. Louis, writes Mr.. R. a. Barrett
thus:
"Your piece of pig iron came to hand
to-day. The pig is the best have ever
seen from a charcoal furnace. 1t appears
to be perfect"
THE COAL SUPPLY.
In order to supply charcoal for the fur
mace, which consumes from 5000 to 1000
bushels per day, tract of timbered land
was purchased, fifteen miles from Rusk,
on the Kansas and Gulf Short
Line Railroad, and a convict camp
established there. The calculation
was that from $50 to IT'S con-
vic:s (after stock Of 100000 bush
els of coal was on hand to commence
WITH could keep up the supply SO as to
keep the furnace in blast nine or ten
months. We find, however, that they
cannot do it, and that it will take force
of at least $50 men. With our present
contracts, cannot supply this force just
now.